HEAD DRESSES OF EAST AFRICAN NEGROES.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE AFRICAN NEGROES.
Causes of the Inferiority of Negro Civilisation—Natural Capabilities of the Negro—Geographical Formation of Africa—Its Political Condition—Physical Conformation of the Negro—Fetishism—The Rain-Doctor—The Medicine-Man—Religious Observances—Gift-Offerings—Human Sacrifices—Ornaments—The Pelélé—The Bonnians—Their Barbarous Condition—The Town of Okolloma—Negroes of the Lake Regions—The Iwanza—Slavery—A Miserable Group.
With the exception of the narrow strip of territory fertilized by the annual inundations of the Nile, where stately pyramids and the ruins of vast palaces and temples proclaim the ancient glories of Egypt; or of the coast-lands of the Mediterranean, where once Carthage reigned and Utica flourished, Africa has ever been a region without influence on the progressive march of mankind. From the vast and still partly unknown countries inhabited by the Negro or the Kaffer no gleam of genius has ever shone forth to enlighten the world; no invention has ever proceeded for the benefit of the human race; no individual has ever risen to eminence in science or in art; but all, from generation to generation, has ever been one dull monotonous scene of ignorance, barbarism, and stagnation.
As to the causes of this stationary unprogressive state opinions are greatly divided, for while some authorities consider the African as decidedly inferior in intellect to the more favoured races of Europe, he is according to others merely the victim of unfortunate circumstances, which have never allowed the latent germs of improvement to quicken into life? That there is no defect in his organisation to account for his low condition, is sufficiently proved by the celebrated physiologist, Tiedemann, who found, as the result of numerous measurements and examinations, that his brain is by no means smaller than that of the European, and that its form and structure are identical.
Travellers and missionaries who have had the best opportunities of forming a just estimate of the character and capacities of the Negroes, describe them as social, generous, and confiding. No one, such is their opinion, can live among them without being impressed with their natural energy of character, their shrewdness and close observation, the cunning with which they can drive a bargain, and the perfect adroitness with which they practise upon the unsuspecting credulity of white men. They have long since risen above the hunter life, have fixed habitations, cultivate the soil for the means of subsistence, have herds of domestic animals, construct for themselves houses sufficient to protect them alike from the scorching heat of the sun and the chilly damps of night, show a taste for the mechanical arts, a surprising skill in the fabrication of implements of warfare and articles of ornament, and at the same time a decided taste and aptitude for commercial pursuits.
The Southern Kaffers gradually pass through the transition of intermediate tribes into the pure typical equatorial Negroes, and travellers have been astonished at the acuteness of intellect displayed by the Zulus, Betchuanas, and other Kaffer nations. Of the Mandingoes, a pure Negro race, inhabiting parts of Senegambia and Upper Guinea, shrewd observers assure us that no one who has had personal intercourse with them, can have the least doubt as to their intellectual equality with Europeans. These few examples, to which many others might be added, sufficiently prove that there is no wide impassable gulf between the negro and the white races.
The aboriginal Africans are indeed averse to all abstract discussions, but they have excellent memories, lively imaginations, much instinctiveness, and very close observation. With the exception of the Veys, who have recently invented an alphabet for themselves (a circumstance in itself sufficient to establish their claims to a high degree of intelligence), none of the nations along the sea coast regions have any written literature, but this is not to be set down as a mark of mental imbecility. Their thoughts, as a matter of necessity, must operate in a comparatively narrow circle; but it does not follow that they are less active on that account. They have abundant stores of unwritten lore, allegories, legends, traditionary stores, fables—and many of their proverbs bear testimony to their sound good sense.
Men of remarkable ability have risen up among the Africans from time to time, as well as amongst other portions of the human family. Some have excited the admiration of large districts by their wisdom, others have been the wonder of their generation by their personal prowess and deeds of arms, but the total absence of literature leads to the loss of all former experience and the lessons of the sage and the feats of the hero have been alike forgotten.